Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP): A Hub for Art, Design, and Exhibitions













The Design Lab Showroom Stage is a space where visitors can experience various design exhibitions, events, and interactive activities.





UD (Universal Design) in the Everyday Life of Citizens
How does universal design exist in everyday life - our home life, our daily life and our daily routines? 1. Everyday universal design for our family #1 “An 87-year-old mother, who is physically disabled and unable to go outside without support, often sits in the living room and looks out the window or holds onto the window sill of the veranda and watches people passing outside the apartment window. Recently, her hearing has deteriorated and she can't hear the doorbell very well, so she is afraid that she won't be able to hear when her children call.” Through consideration for the underprivileged and the coming of the aging society, universal design has already become commonplace in developed countries. Although there is a difference in degree, signs of hearing, visual, and physical disabilities appear together in the process of human aging. Although it is a very natural process, it is bound to lead to experiences that cause inconvenience in daily life, which makes us realize how important and useful universal design is for all of us, and why it should become commonplace in our daily lives.Seoul Design International Forum 2023
Seoul Metropolitan Government has been carrying out discussions on the present and the future of the design of Seoul that is desired by citizens through the Seoul Design International Forum. We would like to carry out discussions on how our city, Seoul, is currently being illuminated with participants by inviting the best-in class speakers who are global designers, architects and experts in the field, under the vision of 'Humanising Cities' that is not being prioritized at all while being taken for granted. Moreover, we believe that you will be able to promote new experiences and generate new memories in the public realm through this forum, and we think you will be able to gain strong insights on the role of public design as the 'alchemist of the city' that can strongly enhance even the competitiveness of the city through that collective memory. It is no exaggeration to say that today's city is the most powerful online/offline platform that enables hyperconnectivity. We hope that Seoul Design International Forum to be held on September 14th will be a precious venue to imagine innovative ideas together and apply them to the public realm.From First Class to Coach
Universal design is increasingly becoming an important part of our lives. Universal design should ensure transparency and involve as many people as possible. Universal design encompasses all fields, including economic, architectural, and social design. The history of universal design can be said to have started with the Weimar Declaration. The Universal Design Forum is a German non-profit organization whose purpose is to create a safe place for all of us. We see universal design as an economic and social mission. There is an old German saying, “A good idea reflects the times.” Today, with rapid changes with industrial development and technology, it is necessary to seek changes in production to accommodate good ideas, and to apply universal design globally by changing all strategies and methods that have been pursued previously. In the past, most buildings were made of wood. Wood has the advantage of allowing you to build a house in a short time, but it has the disadvantage of low sustainability because it is vulnerable to fire and wind. At the time of the Bauhaus, standards of design and construction were defined. The definition concerned planning standards and standards for how a particular building should be built based on ergonomics. It was published as a book and used as a guidebook for builders worldwide.2023 Seoul Design International Forum: New Universe, Docking Seoul
Seoul Design International Forum! Do you know about the Seoul Design International Forum? The Seoul Design International Forum is held every year, and it is a huge venue for expanding our view of design and moving in a better direction around the city. In the meantime, we have moved toward forming a consensus and spreading awareness of social problem-solving design through excellent policies such as social problem-solving design, universal design, and sharing success stories and know-how to improve citizens' lives, enhance city values, change citizens' daily lives, and experience concrete examples.The Process and Outcomes of the COVID-19 Design Challenge
Insights and Applications for the Post-Corona Era; The start of a design challenge related to COVID-19 Design has great power. Design has the power to motivate people to do many things, such as taking action, creating products and services that make life simple and rich, and deriving a whole new experience. Designers basically carry out design work assigned to their organizations, but in addition to these daily tasks, they have the power to solve the world's biggest problems. I expressed these ideas in the keynote speech last August at the Design for America Summit, where I urged designers to solve the biggest challenges facing the international community through a bold approach. And it wasn't long before the COVID-19 virus outbreak, which had effects worldwide. I thought that there must be a solution that designers can bring to meet the huge challenge of the Corona crisis. After discussing how we should contribute to this challenge by making a difference together with like-minded people like World Design Organization’s Srini Srinivasan and Rebecca Breuer and Liz Gerber of Design for America, we decided to launch the COVID-19 Design Challenge and bring the designer community together. Our starting point was to reach out to designers in each community and ask them what challenges they might face with COVID-19. Altogether, there were over 180 challenges, and they were recorded on Post-it notes and categorized according to themes. We grouped the related ones together and marked them on the priority grid in order of high impact and urgency, considering whether it is a task we need to address, what impact it will have, and whether it can affect urgency and resolution.Absolute Value of Design and Innovation – Thinking Beyond Competitiveness
Previous design innovation aimed at gaining a competitive edge, but today’s design innovation in products, services, or policies raises the necessity of absolute values. In order to establish “good brands,” companies and institutions should bear in mind that unlike the past, it is hard to build trust when there is no originality as distribution channels of content diversify, resulting in intensifying competition. Customers can now compare and analyze various brands thanks to increasing data and diversified channels conveying such information. In other words, creating innovative momentum or developing brands using previous method is no longer effective. As customers today access numerous contents, unforgettable consumer experiences can only be made through a new dimension of challenges; hence, the need for absolute innovation. Companies mainly consider “the targets to connect their products, services, and policies with” for absolute innovation. Still, the most significant thing is to understand the core value of services, products, and policies which have strong chemistry with customers based on understanding the momentum of customers.Service Design for the Desirable Cities – Smart Living through Design
Until the end of the last century, design had a strong focus on the material environment. In cities, design was concerned with urban planning, architecture, street furniture, signage - to name but a few. This has changed fundamentally in this century. Designers are shaping and innovating public services. They are leading digital transformation. They co-create with citizens and public servants for the benefit of living in desirable cities. Birgit Mager's presentation will show how governments around the world are putting design on their strategic agendas and how service design is shaping these processes, using concrete examples to provide impetus and inspiration.What is the significance of the brand called Seoul to you?
Portland, New York, or Berlin Personally, I have never been to Portland. However, since a few years ago, lifestyles that is known as ‘YOLO life’, and ‘Kinfolk life’ have emerged, and Portland, was mentioned as one of the representative cities. Portland was perceived to be a city that acknowledges open mindsets and lives, as well as one that is filled with a feeling of relaxation while being a little slow, and not a city that is artificially made and attempts are made for improvements and change. Of course, this is the result of successful city branding. This is why I am treasuring the Portland mask that I received as a gift from an acquaintance who recently visited Portland. Another keyword that is currently being mentioned as much as ‘design’ is ‘branding’. Branding is a topic that is widely used and with importance almost at the level that it can be applied from branding products to corporations, and from individuals to cities and countries. This proves that it is not something that simply ends after having experienced and consumed it, but there is a growing interest and understanding about who I am, what I am consuming or experiencing, and for what purpose. Thus, the example of Portland that I just mentioned before is very strong even if it is a small experience. Our experience in recalling a certain image, brand or a representative spot immediately after hearing the name of a certain city like New York, Berlin, Milano, Davos, or London is the result of city branding (whether we are conscious of it or not). Seoul Design International Forum that was held through Zoom on March 31st was both timely and appropriate in that ‘city brand’ was chosen as the design paradigm. In the forum that was held under the theme of ‘Design trend and direction of policy’, ‘Value of Experience Design in City Brand’, in particular, (Speaker: CEO Choi So-hyun of Perception) triggers us to think about what is required for ‘city branding’ while pointing out the context and meaning of city brand to us, in the current times, where there is a deluge of ‘branding’.Universal Design for Health Care Facilities
[Start of Universal Design at Eunpyeong Hospital in Seoul] The perception of the psychiatric ward is not positive - not only does it bear the social stigma of a dangerous disease, but also the medical environment surrounding the ‘mentally disabled’. Psychiatric facilities are often underdeveloped, and while things may be changing, the doctor-patient relationship is often one-way, with the patient seen only as the ‘recipient’.Does the Crime Rate Drop By Changing Designs?
“Social problem-solving design” that changed our everyday life — life safety design The SMG implemented a design policy in 2007 and carried out city-centered policies for landscape improvement to reinforce the city brand. As a result, Seoul won the Grand Prize at the Index Awards, renowned for “Design to Improve Life,” in 2011. While looking for ways to use the prize money that came with the award, the SMG thought of socially disadvantaged citizens who could not benefit from the design policy. The SMG took a new step forward with the “social problem-solving design” project, which aims to reduce the grievances of people who cannot benefit from policies due to various reasons like having a busy livelihood. Having launched its first life safety design project in 2012, the SMG strengthened the roles of design in solving various social issues. Instead of policies and macroscopic systems, the concept of design has been expanded to public design to solve problems of varying sizes that influence the lives of people. The social problem-solving design projects of the SMG are divided into categories such as life safety design, cognitive health design, stress-free design, youth problem-solving design, and design governance. Each project utilizes the “service design” methodology, which derives relationship-centered solutions based on communication and awareness improvement beyond the improvement of the physical environment regarding social issues. This year, the social problem-solving design projects of the SMG marks its 10th anniversary. In celebration, we intend to take a close look at our surrounding environment and public design that have undergone small and large changes.2023 Seoul Design International Forum 'Seoul Mind Garden Guro Family Counseling Center where you can take care of a healthy mind'
Hello, I'm Lee Ju-young, and I'm a supporter of the 2023 Seoul Design International Forum. Today, let's check what Seoul Design is and the Mind garden that applies Seoul Design with me. What about Seoul Design International Forum? The Seoul Design International Forum is held every year. The 2022 Seoul Design International Forum held last year was a forum under the theme of "Design x Seoul: How Design Enrichs the Future." Through various urban examples, we were able to learn how design can be combined with municipal areas such as welfare, culture, and transportation. The 2023 Seoul Design International Forum "Humanizing Cities: Human, Design, City" is with global designers, architects, and experts, you will be able to learn about the role of public design as an "urban alchemist" who can promote new experiences in the public realm, create memories, and even drive the city's competitiveness through collective memory.Opening Speech - Director-General of Design Policy Bureau, Choi In-Kyu
I would like to first extend my gratitude to the speakers at home and abroad who prepared for the Seoul Design International Forum which is in its third year this year and to all citizens participating online. Thank you all.